McAfee Associates Spreads Hate Virus
By Sarah Fox, Ph.D Communications Director, It's Time, Ohio!
(Ed. Note: TGForum put the community on notice last week about this wretched ad thanks to the efforts of columnist Jami Ward who wrote a news article about it.)
Most computer
users are familiar with McAfee Associates' virus protection
software. McAfee has established a long history of
leadership in data protection; however, Network Associates
Inc., formed from the acquisition of Network General by
McAfee Associates, has callously spread one of the most
destructive viruses in recent history, called the "Hate Virus."
The Hate Virus is differs from most viruses. It does not
cause data loss, its host is not a computer, and it is not
transmitted either via the Internet or any data storage
medium. Rather, it causes loss of human life, its host is the
human mind, and it is transmitted via printed material.
While it poses no risk to data integrity, its effects on societal
integrity are potentially catastrophic.
Network Associates released the Hate Virus on October 12
in a two-page ad conceived by the Think Inc. advertising
agency. The ad, cleverly disguised as humor, shows the
hand of a man and a woman in wedding attire, with a
minister in the background. Another hand is displaying a
note to the groom, reading, "She's a man!" Accompanying
the photograph are the statements, "It's nice to know about
something before it becomes a problem, " "because it's what
you don't know that can hurt you," and "It might just save
you from an embarrassing situation."
Transgendered people have long been the subject of humor,
and there is nothing wrong with that. Along with all the daily
torment they must endure, there are indeed priceless
moments of humor. However, NAI's advertisement clearly
crosses the line from humor to hatred and ignorance by
suggesting that transsexuals are out to dupe unsuspecting
men, thereby causing them "hurt," "a problem," or "an
embarrassing situation." It clearly portrays transsexuals as
predators and their partners as victims, and it conveys the
message that a marriages between a transsexual woman
and a man are somehow improper.
Imagine if the message on the note read, "She's a Jew!"
The implication, of course, would be that the groom has
been tricked by a clever Jewish woman posing as a Gentile
and that the he must be warned, so as to save him from
making the embarrassing mistake of marrying this terrible
person. The only people who would not call for heads to roll
would be the "Aryan" supremacists. How is the ad about
transsexuals any different?
Contrary to the message of NAI's ad campaign, transsexuals
are worthwhile and loving human beings, just like everybody
else. Normal, everyday people knowingly date them, fall in
love with them, and, yes, often marry them. Indeed, they are
remarkably intelligent and talented people with unusual
strength of character -- probably the most highly educated
group of people that one could identify -- a group in which
doctoral degrees are almost commonplace. Transsexuals
have no more interest in entering into deceptive
relationships than anyone else. If anything, they value truth
and honesty far more than most people, usually having
sacrificed almost everything (e.g. family, friends, money,
dignity, social status, career, civil rights, and personal
safety) in order to be true to themselves.
Besides being hateful, woefully ignorant, and insulting, NAI's
ad campaign hurts real people in real ways. Transsexuals
are without question the most relentlessly persecuted
people in society. There is nothing they would like more
than to be left alone to lead normal lives, but society will not
let them. Anything and everything becomes an issue or an
obstacle -- everything from cashing a check to using the
toilet to driving one's car to keeping one's job to obtaining
medical care to filing charges against one's attackers to
having one's burial wishes observed. Not surprisingly, many
transsexuals find life too painful to live, so it is no wonder
that such a large percentage of the transsexual population is
lost to suicide.
Every time ignorance is propagated by some company such
as NAI, transsexuals have to contend with it. They must
wince at it when they see it in PC Week. They must reply to
the questions and comments of countless acquaintances --
over and over and over. They must deal with the prejudice
and paranoia of those they wish to date. They must deal
with the legal and political ramifications of thousands of
cretins contacting their Congresspersons to demand that
these abominations of humanity be herded into the sea.
Each of these problems is but a single drop of water on the
forehead. None by itself is unbearable. However, when the
water drops do not stop or even slow down for days, years,
even decades, we call that "Chinese water torture." The
water drops may be different, but the effect is the same.
The Hate Virus has recently reached epidemic proportions,
especially following the grotesque torture and murder of a
gentle young soul from Wyoming, but I have faith that this
virus can be conquered. This time the solution will not come
from McAfee or from a medical research lab. The solution
lies within all of us. We must all learn to cast off the
shackles of bigotry and to respect our fellow human beings,
or else we are doomed to lead miserable lives of hatred and
bitterness, those same dark human qualities that lie behind
the computer virus that keeps McAfee in business.
Dr. Fox is a transsexual woman, neurobiologist, and Communications
Director for the transgender/bisexual/lesbian/gay education and
advocacy organization, It's Time, Ohio!.
This article may be reprinted without permission, provided the author is contacted by email
Send your comments about the Hate Virus to:
Jennifer Keaveney, Senior Public Relations Manager (jkeavney@nai.com) or
Srivats Sampath, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing
(srivats_sampath@nai.com), Network Associates, Inc., 3965 Freedom Circle,
Santa Clara, CA 95054, 408-988-3832 (voice), 408- 970-9727 (FAX); Paul
Simko (paul_simko@zd.com), Mgr. of Marketing, or Eric Lundquist
(Eric_Lundquist@zd.com), Editor-in-chief, PC Week, 617-393-3802; Glenn
Goldberg (glenn.goldberg@thinkinc.com), Think Inc. Ad Agency.
QUILL (the Queer Unity Initiative Liberty Lantern) is an Internet wire
service linking transgender, bisexual, lesbian, and gay organizations to
each other and to the media. Operated by the education and advocacy
organization, It's Time, Ohio!, the Liberty Lantern is dedicated to the
struggle of queer citizens for their inalienable rights to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.
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